[wdcbooks]

The preceding advice is correct. Whole life is one part of what are known as cash value policies. These can range from whole life with a fixed payment and you earn a fixed interest on your excess premium to variable universal life which directs part of your payment to mutual fund like options. Unless you need permanent insurance, which you don't, these are lousy options.

As far as cost, term insurance is almost always far cheaper than you would expect. For a non-smoker around age thirty you will usually pay a bit over $100 a year. I don't have exact quotes in front of me, but there are a million internet based quoting sites you could use.

One interesting note is that for a healthy non-smoker the life insurance option through your work's benefits plan is usually significantly more expensive than what you could purchase on your own. I have found that it can be as much as 2-3X more expensive.